Fantasy

I would have given this book five stars for a highly original setting and scientific yet meaningful magic system, but for three major flaws. The forced rhymes of the whales' songs made them sound like a sanctimonious human choir. The master shark's behavior towards Nita was quite literally predatory, and he was portrayed too sympathetically, in my opinion. Also the ubiquitous victimized villain trope, but that's another essay. ( )

I took a while to finish this book because even though I like it a lot, I find it rather emotionally taxing to read. The ideas about life/death and humanity and duty and a bunch of other things just get to me with this book, and it takes me a bit longer to process through.

I really like the setting and characters in this story. The ocean wizard world is beautiful and interesting, and the character of Ed the shark is an all time favorite of mine. Even if its not on my comfort reading list, it is a great book. ( )

The explanations delved too deeply into minutiae. I felt like this book and the previous each had their own rules that didn't all transfer. Also... Duane plays favorites.

But there were some really nice points when life lessons were beautifully learned/taught. ( )

Still being thrown by the context/content changes in the New Millennium editions, but getting used to it. And still bloody love the work. ( )